Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country in Southwestern Europe. It is a unitary republic comprising mainland Portugal, located on the southwestern portion of the Iberian Peninsula and bordered by Spain to the north and east, and the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. The country has a population of over 11.4 million, and Lisbon, its capital, is the largest city. Portugal's internal waters and territorial sea together account for two-fifths of its territory, and its exclusive economic zone is one of Europe's largest, while its terrain contains a diverse range of landscapes and regional climates.
The word Portugal derives from Latin Portus Cale, meaning 'port of Cale', itself the origin of Porto, while Cale was a town on the Douro. There is no consensus on the etymology of Cale. It could be an ethnonym derived from the Celtic Gallaeci peoples, who occupied the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. Around 136 BC, the Romans, during the Second Punic War, conquered Cale from the Carthaginians and renamed it Portus Cale. During the Middle Ages, the region around Portus Cale became known by the Visigoths as Portucale and by the Suebi as Parochiale. The name Portucale evolved into Portugale; by the 11th and 12th centuries Portugal was referred to the region between the Douro and Minho rivers.
In 1908, King Carlos I and Luís Filipe, Prince Royal, were assassinated by republican partisans. In 1910, the monarchy was replaced with a republic. During World War I, Portugal fought for the Allies. However, the war increased political instability and deepened the economic crisis creating further chaos and unrest during the First Republic. These conditions led to the overthrow of the Republic in 1926 and the establishment of the Ditadura Militar [pt], later the Ditadura Nacional, which evolved into the authoritarian nationalist corporative dictatorship of the Estado Novo, under António de Oliveira Salazar. During the Estado Novo, Portugal remained neutral in World War II, after which the postwar decline of colonial legitimacy and the growth of African independence movements increasingly challenged Portuguese rule overseas. The regime introduced reforms intended to strengthen ties between the metropole and the colonies, yet the empire was no unified customs and economic area. Indigenous peoples already second-class citizens, saw limited improvements in living conditions further fuelled nationalist movements, ultimately leading to the Portuguese Colonial War from 1961 to 1974.
Prehistory
The region has been inhabited by humans since approximately 400,000 years ago.[e] Neanderthals roamed the southwestern Iberian peninsula until 37,000 years ago, and a Neanderthal tooth has been found at the Nova da Columbeira Cave in Estremadura. Homo sapiens sapiens arrived in what is now Portugal around 35,000 years ago and spread rapidly. The onset of the Neolithic in the area dates to between 5500 BC and 5300 BC. In southern Portugal, Iron Age inscribed stele have been found, representing an early evidence of writing on the Iberian Peninsula. Pre-Celtic tribes inhabited Portugal and the Lusitanians occupied central, inland regions. Celts inhabited most of the remaining territory of mainland Portugal, leaving lasting traces in the language and culture such as contributing to the formation of Portuguese values and identity, such as saudade.
Antiquity and early Middle Ages
The Mediterranean coast was well known to the Carthaginians, whose close relations with Phoenician-Punic settlements likely gave them considerable political and economic influence there from the 6th or 5th century BC. After Carthage's defeat by Rome in the First Punic War, it sought new western territories, culminating in the Barcid conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 237 BC. Romans invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 218 BC. The Carthaginians were expelled from the peninsula in 206 BC after the Battle of Ilipa. Within 200 years, mainland Portugal, together with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula had been annexed by the Romans despite resistance from local tribes such as the Lusitanians under the leadership of various leaders such as Viriathus.
Reconquista and independence
The Reconquista was a series of military and cultural campaigns by northern Iberian Christian polities against the Muslim-ruled al-Andalus. It could have begun with the defeat of Umayyad forces at the Battle of Covadonga by Pelagius, a Visigothic nobleman, although the historicity of both Pelagius and the event remains unestablished. In 868, the region between the Minho and the Douro rivers was secured from the Moors and constituted as the County of Portugal under Vímara Peres. The first county of Portugal lasted until it was abolished following the Battle of Pedroso, in 1071. In 1096, Alfonso VI of León refounded the county and bestowed it on Henry of Burgundy, who married Alfonso's illegitimate daughter, Teresa of León.
Age of Discovery
The unpopularity of Leonor Teles, regent for her daughter Beatrice, wife of John I of Castile, triggered a crisis in 1383 compounded by fears that the marriage could lead [pt] to the loss of Portugal's independence. In 1385, John of Aviz was elected [pt] king and later defeated the Castilians in the Battle of Aljubarrota consolidating the House of Aviz's rule over the country. The dynasty contributed to the conditions for Portugal's maritime expansion, elevating it in European politics and culture. Portugal acquired its first colonies by conquering Ceuta in 1415. The country was among the first to start the Age of Discovery,[f] and its scientific advances influenced other European countries' overseas expansions.
Iberian Union and Restoration
The 1578 death of King Sebastian in battle and the subsequent 1580 death of King Henry without a named heir, precipitated a succession crisis. Philip II of Spain, whose mother was Isabella of Portugal, was one of the candidates for the throne. In 1581 he was acclaimed [pt] king of Portugal, creating a personal union between the two kingdoms. This deprived Portugal of an independent foreign policy and led to the Dutch-Portuguese War. On 15 December 1640, John, Duke of Braganza, was proclaimed king following an uprising led by some nobles on 1 December [pt], ending the Iberian Union under the House of Habsburg, and beginning the rule of the House of Braganza. Following the Portuguese Restoration War, Spain recognised Afonso VI as king of Portugal. During the reign of John V, the large influx of Brazilian gold into the royal treasury, chiefly through the royal fifth, produced a resource curse that weakened industry and cereal production, created a gold rush from Portugal to Brazil, and led to prolonged economic stagnation, permanent reduction of income growth, and the interruption of the institutional and economic progress achieved in the 17th century.
Constitutional monarchy
In 1807, Portugal refused Napoleon's demand to join the Continental System of embargo against the United Kingdom; an invasion led by French General Junot followed, and Lisbon was captured in 1807. During the Napoleonic invasions, the Portuguese royal family transferred the court to Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, making it the capital between 1808 and 1821. British intervention in the Peninsular War helped support Portuguese independence, and all French troops were expelled by 1812. In 1820, an uprising in Porto sought to establish a constitution for Portugal and led to the return of King John VI and his court to mainland Portugal in 1821. Although the 1822 Constitution was adopted, the process was marked by compromise and efforts at consensus, which allowed absolutist forces to regain strength, culminating in Miguelist counter-revolts against liberalism, prompting Prince Miguel's exile. After John VI's death in 1826, his eldest son, Pedro I of Brazil, briefly reigned as Pedro IV of Portugal, granted the 1826 Charter, and abdicated in favour of his minor daughter, Maria da Glória, on the condition that she marry Miguel, who was appointed regent. Although Miguel's return was under the condition of swearing allegiance to the Charter, he soon dismantled liberal institutions and was proclaimed king in 1828, leading to the Liberal Wars, after which Pedro forced Miguel's abdication in favour of Maria and his exile causing absolutist ideology to wane. Under the constitutional monarchy, the country faced economic crises, political instability, and several coups d'état. At the same time it expanded its colonies in Africa, but this culminated in the 1890 British Ultimatum, which thwarted Portugal's imperialist ambitions and represented a devastating blow to the monarchy.
Portugal's territory comprises mainland Portugal and the Azores and Madeira archipelagos. The mainland, commonly referred to as Continental Portugal, is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe, while Madeira and the Azores lie in the Atlantic Ocean. The country's land area is 92,225 km2 (35,608 sq mi), although Portuguese law defines the country's size as 156,597 km2 (60,462 sq mi) which includes about 64,000 km2 (24,711 sq mi) of ocean waters.[h] Portugal's exclusive economic zone extends 1,727,408 km2 (666,956 mi2), making it one of the largest in the European Union. The country is over two-thirds wilderness, almost one-fourth agricultural, and the remainder human settlements. Its highest point is the summit of Mount Pico, located on Pico Island in the Azores, which rises to an elevation of 2,351 m (7,713 ft) above sea level.[i] Portugal can be divided into four morphostructural units: the Hesperian Massif, which occupies most of mainland Portugal; the sedimentary borderlands of the massif, forming the Lusitanian and Algarve basins; the Lower Tagus and Alvalade sedimentary basins; and the volcanic submarine ranges that form the Azores and Madeira. Its geological and geomorphological features are largely the product of the Variscan, responsible for the formation of the Hesperian Massif, and later the Tethys–Atlantic cycle, responsible for the remaining units. Regional tectonic processes affected mainland Portugal's morphostructural units differently, producing relief variations that subdivide the territory into ten regional geomorphological units shaped by the different regional impacts of the Cenozoic tectonics, regional asymmetries of climate in the Paleogene, Neogene, and Quaternary, and the varied response of different lithologies to tectonic activity and climatic variability.
Climate
The climate of mainland Portugal and Madeira, together with their surrounding waters, is Mediterranean, whereas the Azores and its adjacent waters mainly have a temperate oceanic climate. Portugal's terrain has a diverse variety of regional climates for its size. The high altitude zones of the Azorean islands have a temperate maritime climate while the western Azores have a humid subtropical climate. In parts of Beja and on Porto Santo Island the climate is semi-arid. In the Savage Islands the climate is that of a hot desert. The average temperature in Portugal varies from 4–20 °C (39.2–68.0 °F) in the mainland, around 18 °C (64.4 °F) in the Azores, and 9–19 °C (48.2–66.2 °F) in Madeira.
Biodiversity
Portugal is located on the Mediterranean basin, a biodiversity hotspot. It is home to six terrestrial ecoregions: Azores temperate mixed forests, Cantabrian mixed forests, Madeira evergreen forests, Iberian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests, Northwest Iberian montane forests, and Southwest Iberian Mediterranean sclerophyllous and mixed forests. Almost a quarter of its land area is included in the Natura 2000 network. Native species such as holm oak, cork oak, stone pine, and maritime pine make up 72% of the total forested area of continental Portugal. The Portuguese west coast is part of the four major Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems of the ocean. Portugal and Spain together have a high proportion of endemism among freshwater fish, with 73% of the freshwater fish species being endemic. Among Portugal's protected areas are the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park, one of Europe's last remaining stretches of wild coastline, and Montesinho Natural Park, which preserves one of the few thriving Mediterranean mountain landscapes.
Portugal has been a semi-presidential representative democratic republic since the ratification of the Constitution of 1976. The Constitution makes for a separation of powers among four sovereignty bodies: the president, the government, the Assembly of the Republic, and the courts. There is universal suffrage for adults over 18 years of age, with a secret ballot for all elected offices. The head of state of Portugal is the president who is elected to a five-year term by direct, universal adult suffrage. The president exercises representative functions, carries supervisory and reserve powers, and shapes political opinions and agendas; in addition, the office includes supreme command of the armed forces and is advised by the Council of State. The current president of Portugal is António José Seguro; he took office after winning the runoff vote of the 2026 Portuguese presidential election. Portugal's legislative body is the Assembly of the Republic, a unicameral parliament. It consists of a single chamber with a minimum of 180 seats and a maximum of 230, elected by popular vote every four years or when dissolved. The members of parliament represent the whole country and not the constituencies for which they are elected. As the head of government, the prime minister directs government policy, leads the Council of Ministers which includes ministers and junior ministers that execute government policy, and is appointed by the president in light of electoral results after consulting with the parties with seats in the Assembly of the Republic. Portugal's current prime minister is Luís Montenegro, who took office after the AD – PSD/CDS Coalition won enough seats to form a minority government following the 2024 Portuguese legislative election. Portugal operates a multi-party system of competitive legislatures at the national, regional, and local levels. The Assembly of the Republic is dominated by three political parties, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Chega (CH), and the Socialist Party (PS), while the PSD and PS continue to be the dominant parties in the regional parliaments and at the local level.[j] There have been recent trends towards autocratisation.
Administrative divisions
Portugal is a highly centralised unitary state comprising two autonomous regions, as well as seven regions on the mainland. Subnational government in Portugal is currently organised through municipalities (concelhos), civil parishes (freguesias), and intermunicipal communities (comunidades intermunicipais). In the following table, the intermunicipal communities are grouped by region:
Foreign relations
A member state of the United Nations since 1955, Portugal is a member of almost all major international organisations, and is among the countries that founded NATO in 1949, the OECD in 1961, EFTA in 1960, and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) in 1996, an international organisation of countries with Portuguese as an official language. Portugal has a stable foreign policy that is the result of its history, geography, and specific foreign policy choices. It is structured around six principal regional and policy priorities: Europe, NATO and relations with the United Kingdom and with the United States, the Portuguese-speaking world, the importance of and support for Portuguese communities abroad, the internationalization of the national economy, and the strengthening of multilateralism. Portugal regards the success of European integration as paramount and is prepared, where a consensus exists among European Union member states, to endorse policies that go against with the country's national interests; it also supports general disarmament, the dismantling of political-military blocs, and the creation of a collective security system aimed at establishing an international order grounded in peace and justice among peoples.
Military
The Portuguese Armed Forces consist of three branches commanded by the Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas (Armed Forces General Staff): the Marinha (Navy), Exército (Army), and Força Aérea (Air Force). In addition to the three branches of the armed forces, there is the Guarda Nacional Republicana (National Republican Guard), a gendarmerie, comprising 23,042 personnel in 2025, under the authority of both the Defence and the Home Affairs ministries. The Portuguese military serves as a self-defence force, takes part in humanitarian and peace missions undertaken by the international organisations to which Portugal belongs, and cooperates in civil defence missions. In recent years, the Portuguese military have carried out several NATO and European Union missions worldwide.[k] The Portuguese military budget in 2025 was estimated at more than $6 billion, representing 2% of GDP.
Law enforcement
In Portugal, public prosecution is conducted by the Public Prosecution Service which is headed by the prosecutor general [pt]. The main police organisations of Portugal are the Guarda Nacional Republicana (National Republican Guard), the Polícia de Segurança Pública (Public Security Police), a civilian police force that works in urban areas; and the Polícia Judiciária (Judiciary Police), a senior criminal police body, under the authority of the Minister of Justice and endowed with administrative autonomy. Portugal has 49 correctional facilities [pt] run by the Directorate-General for Reintegration and Prison Services [pt] (DGRSP). The facilities are classified by security level, and by degree of management complexity, and often house inmates with different legal statuses, risk levels, and criminal trajectories within the same facilities. Despite following a reintegration-oriented penal model, Portugal retains high prison occupancy and an average sentence length of 31.3 months.
Human rights
Portugal has a tradition of a humanistic criminal justice. The Portuguese Constitution defines the country as being one that is based on human dignity. It abolished capital punishment and life imprisonment in the 19th century, and forbids extradition in the case of either sentence possibly being imposed. The Portuguese Penal Code provides for a wide range of non-custodial sentences, with the aim of keeping a prison sentence a punishment of last resort. Portuguese penitentiary laws have traditionally been progressive, and based on rehabilitation as the main goal of the implementation of such a sentence. Since the 1990s, Portugal has strengthened LGBT rights and become one of Europe's most equal countries, although historical isolation continues to shape social acceptance of homosexuality. In 2001, Portugal decriminalized the personal possession and consumption of all drugs. Portugal faces issues such as unwarranted use of force by law enforcement, racism and discrimination against minorities, migrant slavery [pt], restrictions on freedom of association and collective bargaining, violations of wage, hour, and overtime laws, and treatment inside prisons.
Portugal is a high-income country with an advanced economy that follows the Mediterranean model. The country's economic policy is framed by strategic guidelines called Major Options [pt], which are subsequently implemented through the State Budget. Portugal has the EU's 14th-largest economy by nominal GDP and the 12th-largest economy by PPP-adjusted GDP. Its PPP-adjusted GDP per capita stood at to 81% of the EU average in 2025. As of 2024, the country's service sector contributed the most for its economic output followed the industrial sector and its primary sector. In 2025, Portugal unemployment rate was 5.8%. As of 2024, its poverty rate after social transfers was 15.4% of the population while in 2023, the at-risk-of-poverty rate before social transfers stood at 40.3%. The national debt of Portugal was estimated at 89.7% relative to GDP as of 2025. Portugal is part of the European single market which represents more than 450 million consumers. Portugal replaced the escudo with the euro in 2002. Its monetary policy is set by the European Central Bank. The country has been a part of the Eurozone since its inception. Portugal's central bank is the Banco de Portugal and it is part of the European System of Central Banks. In 2024, Portugal had a combined share of exports and imports that amounted to 90% of its total GDP. As of February 2026, Portugal's main export markets were Spain at 26% and Germany at 13.9%. Its main exports are machinery and mechanical appliances, vehicles and other transportation equipment, base metals, and plastics. Portugal's main import markets in 2026 were Spain at 32.9% and Germany at 11.9%. Portugal's main imports are machinery and mechanical appliances, chemical products, agricultural products, and mineral fuels.
Agriculture and fishery
The Portuguese agriculture sector accounted for 2.9% of the country's total GDP as of 2024. Portugal's agricultural land encompassed an area of approximately 3,697,000 ha (36,970 km2) as of 2023, of which 17.4% was dedicated to organic farming, representing the fifth-highest share worldwide. Despite the extent of the country's agricultural land, the diversity of Portugal's edaphoclimatic and agroecological conditions enables the cultivation of various agricultural products such as wheat, maize, and rice, with each one having an important role in the primary sector, and resulting in an agricultural self-sufficiency rate of 85% as of 2018. Portugal ranks sixth in the world in seafood consumption per capita, with each Portuguese person consuming on average 54 kg (119 lb) of fish in 2023. The high fish consumption in Portugal is due to tradition and cultural roots, politics, dynamics of the fish market system, and geography. Strong demand for seafood makes the fisheries a valuable national asset. While Portugal captured 185,000 tonnes (182,000 long tons; 204,000 short tons) of fish in 2019, down from the 222,000 t (218,000 long tons; 245,000 short tons) in 2010, fish and seafood represent the single highest import of biocapacity from abroad, amounting to 1,600,000 global hectares in total.
Industry and services
Portugal's manufacturing industry accounted for 21.2% of the country's total GDP as of 2024, down from an annual average of 26% over the period between 1953 and 1973. The lower contribution of manufacturing to Portugal's economy has led to lower real GDP growth rates between 1974 and 2019 than during the period between 1950 and 1973. As of 2025, Portugal's automobile industry produced the biggest share of the country's exports. The automobile industry accounts for 20.2% of the country manufacturing exports and 82.8% of the total value of its exports employing 43.247 workers in 2020. Portugal's service sector accounted for 76.5% of the country's total economic output as of 2024. Tourism, retail, and telecommunication are all major industries. Tourism represented 11.4% of the Portugal's total GDP as of 2024. Portugal attracted 29 million international tourists in 2024, ranking 15th in the world in that year for inbound tourism.
Infrastructure
Portugal's road network includes a system of 48 motorways, which, as of 2023, ranked as the seventh largest among 42 European countries. The busiest Portuguese airports are Lisbon Airport, Porto Airport, Faro Airport, Madeira Airport, and Ponta Delgada Airport. As of 2024, passenger and freight rail transport in Portugal operated on 2,526 km (1,570 mi) of active railway lines, with passenger services operated mainly by Comboios de Portugal (CP). The Port of Sines serves as Portugal's foremost container port and leads the country in cargo tonnage. As of 2023, two-thirds of Portugal's energy supply was imported, representing the 11th-highest level of energy dependency in the European Union. The country is pursuing energy transition and has invested in the development of renewable energy sources such as the Aguçadoura Wave Farm. Portugal has expanded the role of renewable sources in its energy sector, with renewables accounting for 35.2% of energy consumption, up from 21.9% in 2007, and 78.1% of total installed capacity, compared with 59.3% in 2014. In 2021, the country completed the phase-out of coal-fired generation.
Portugal had a population of 11,424,031, of whom 9,826,492 were Portuguese nationals and the remainder were foreign residents at 1,597,539, as of 2025. Portugal is steadily aging and has one of the world's highest proportion of elderly citizens, comprising nearly one-fourth of its entire population, together with a female share of the population at 51.1%. Portugal has a fertility rate of 1.4, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1 and is one of the world's lowest. The country has had a fertility rate below the replacement rate of 2.1 since the 1980s that has led to the country having a median age of 45.8, one of the highest in the world. As of 2025, 23.3% of the population was aged 65 or older. Despite the effects of net migration, due to low fertility rates Portugal's population is projected to drop to 8.3 million by 2100. Historically a country of emigration, Portugal has been a net recipient of immigrants since 1993 except between 2011 and 2016 during the Portuguese financial crisis. Since 2016, Portugal has experienced a marked increase in immigration, with the proportion of non-nationals in the total population rising from 3.5% to 14.0% by 2025, living mainly in the Algarve and the Lisbon metropolitan area, and with 24.5% of all births registered in 2024 being to foreign-born women. In Portugal, White Portuguese constitute the largest racial and ethnic group, representing 84.2% of the population, followed by multiracial Portuguese at 3.4%, Black Portuguese at 2.2%, Asian Portuguese at 0.7%, and the Romani at 0.6%.
Religion
Portugal has been a secular state since 1911 [pt], and it guarantees religious freedom.[l] Although Portugal has no official religion, the Catholic Church has a history there that predates the country's formation and can be traced back to the 3rd century. According to the 2021 Census, 80.2% of the Portuguese population aged 15 and older were Catholic, while 14.1% are nonreligious. The country has small Protestant, Latter-day Saints, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jehovah's Witnesses [pt], Baháʼí, Buddhist, and Jewish communities. Influences from African Traditional Religion and Chinese Traditional Religion are also felt among many people, particularly in fields related to Traditional Chinese Medicine.[m] Even though Portugal has deep ties with Christianity, as of 2019 the majority of its people were shown to be tolerant towards followers of other faiths, with the Muslim community perceiving itself as thoroughly integrated into Portugal and believing that the country provided conditions conducive to smooth integration.
Languages
Portuguese is the official and predominantly spoken language in Portugal. It is one of 24 official and working languages of the European Union. Portuguese is the fifth-most widely spoken first language in the world, with around 250 million native speakers. Portuguese Sign Language is officially protected by the country's constitution. The recognised regional languages and dialects include Mirandese, spoken in Terra de Miranda, and Barranquenho, in Barrancos. Portuguese people are typically bilingual, with 67.5% speaking at least two languages, and tend to be proficient non-native English speakers, with Portugal placed sixth globally for English proficiency in the 2025 EF English Proficiency Index.
Education
Portugal's education system is organised into preschool education; school education, encompassing basic [pt], secondary [pt] and higher education; and extracurricular education [pt], which includes continuing education. Optional preschool is provided for all children between three and five years old, after which school attendance is compulsory for 12 years. Basic education lasts nine years and is divided into three cycles, while secondary education is organised into academic and vocational pathways. Higher education is provided by universities and polytechnic institutions in accordance with the Bologna Process, with the University of Lisbon being the country's largest university by enrolment. A general requirement for higher education are the exames finais nacionais do ensino secundário. Most secondary-school students continue their studies at public higher education institutions or the Military Academy, which also awards university degrees.
Health
Portugal has a predominantly universal tax-funded health care system, called Serviço Nacional de Saúde [pt] (SNS), that operates alongside public-sector health insurance schemes called health subsystems funded mainly through employee and employer contributions, as well as private voluntary health insurance. Primary and hospital care are provided by both public and private entities, with the private sector and complementing services offered by the SNS. In 2023, Portugal's health care was 38% privately funded and 62% government-funded, the 3rd lowest public share on health spending in the European Union. Portugal has a high level of health inequity in the OECD, driven by limited public spending, uneven distribution of services, low household income, long waiting times, and policy shortcomings.
Portugal has developed a specific culture due to, initially before its existence, the influence from various civilisations that have crossed Europe, especially the Mediterranean. Later, during the period of Portugal's engagement in the Age of Discovery, cultural elements from outside of Europe were introduced and became a central element of Portuguese national identity. Portugal is well known for its heritage and architecture, sacred sites, festivities, poetry, its music (especially the fado), and cuisine (including its wine). As of 2026, UNESCO inscribed 17 properties in Portugal on the World Heritage List. Portugal's national day is on 10 June, celebrated as the Dia de Portugal, de Camões e das Comunidades Portuguesas (Portugal, Camões, and Portuguese Communities Day).
Art and architecture
The history of visual art in Portugal dates back into the Paleolithic. An early evidence showing an attempt at depicting motion was found at the Prehistoric Rock Art Sites in the Côa Valley and Siega Verde. Over time, foreign and native influences, together with advancements in manufacturing, developed distinctive art styles, such as the Manueline and Pombaline, and also a number of crafts that are typical of Portugal, namely the azulejo, talha dourada, and Portuguese pavement. Historically, religion, specifically Christianity, had an influential role in Portuguese art, as it was a recurrent theme widely employed in many art forms, such as in painting. Throughout the country's history, artwork in Portugal was typically done by local artists who, depending on location, followed different variations in style, giving Portugal a diverse array of artistic styles throughout the country, an example of this being the thatch houses of Santana [pt], in Madeira.
Literature
Portugal has a literary tradition that predates the Portuguese language going back into the early 13th century. Portuguese literature developed through song as well as the written page known as cantigas. The cantigas drew practitioners from all social ranging from King Denis I to Martin Codax who was a minstrel. The earliest known work of Portugal's literature is the Ora faz ost'o senhor de Navarra, a cantiga de escárnio e maldizer written in Galician–Portuguese by João Soares de Paiva at around the year 1200. Portuguese literature developed under the influence of both European geopolitical developments and broader European literary traditions. The Hundred Years' War helped foster the development of Portuguese chronicles by Fernão Lopes, which constitute a valuable record of some of Europe's early encounters with peoples beyond the continent. European medieval chivalric literature, together with didactic religious literature transmitted through adaptations and partial translations, contributed to the development of Portuguese poetry in the translated works of Norman French Arturian narratives. Portuguese literature flourished during the Age of Discovery with writers such as Luís Vaz de Camões and António Ferreira. Modern Portuguese literature took shape through the work of Almeida Garrett, one of the founders of Portuguese Romanticism. Portugal has one Nobel Prize–winning author—José Saramago (1998).
Music
The recorded history of music in Portugal dates back to the 6th century. The earliest documentation of a church singer in Portugal is from the year 525 and refers to an individual named André. Portuguese music initially consisted mostly of liturgical music and troubadourism. Over time, new folk traditions together with the influence of foreign cultures and the creation of new instruments, especially guitars [pt], led to a diverse variety of regional folk music such as the fado, the Coimbra fado, and Madeira's folk music. Popular music in Portugal after the Carnation Revolution has been heavily influenced by American trends, which has led into the evolution of Hip-hop tuga and popularization of Rock. Historically, Portugal has been a country of emigration which has heavily influenced the Pimba in the 20th century and led to the introduction of Portuguese music into other cultures such as the ukelele in Hawaii in the 19th century.
Holidays and festivities
Officially, Portugal has 13 national, government-recognised holidays. Public holidays in Portugal are regulated by the Labour Code [pt]. Besides the national holidays, there are regional holidays celebrated only in Madeira and the Azores and two facultative holidays which are the Entrudo [pt] and one municipal holiday allowed per concelho. Unlike some official holidays, Portugal's folk festivities remain widely attended and are rooted in local traditions, such as the Carnival of Ovar, Lisbon's Marchas Populares, and Porto's Festa de São João. Many of folk festivities are associated with the Santos Populares, Christian celebrations with older pagan origins linked to Midsummer. These festivities are celebrated across the country, especially in rural areas, and typically include music performances, stages, temporary arenas, and traditional food stalls.
Cuisine
Portuguese cuisine is influenced by both the Mediterranean and Atlantic diets. Seafood, brassicas, potatoes, bread, dairy, and olive oil are traditional staples. Bacalhau has such a broad presence in Portugal that it is considered a national dish, along with the pastel de nata. Traditional Portuguese sweets are known as conventual sweets. Large quantities of sugar and eggs are used. Popular Portuguese beverages include its wines, a craft that is well establish since the 7th century, and of which are such examples as Port and Madeira. Beer has been brewed in Portugal since the Chalcolithic. Tea has been produced on São Miguel Island since the 19th century.
Sport
Portugal has contributed to the popularity and globalisation of sport through internationally recognised athletes such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Ricardinho, Naide Gomes, and Carlos Lopes, as well as through the popularity of its three largest football clubs. Football is the most popular sport in Portugal. The Portugal men's national football team won the UEFA European Championship in 2016 and the UEFA Nations League in 2019 and 2025. Portugal is among the world's leading futsal countries, with its men's national team having won the FIFA Futsal World Cup in 2021, the UEFA Futsal Championship in 2018 and 2022, and the Futsal Finalissima in 2022. In athletics [pt], the country has set several records and has earned more medals in this sport than in any other at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. In traditional sport, Portugal is noted for its classical dressage as well as native sports such as jogo do pau and jogo da malha [pt]. Portugal has several established sporting centres across the country, including the Algarve and Lisbon, which are international golf destinations and have hosted motorsport events such as Formula One and Grand Prix motorcycle racing, as well as Nazaré and Peniche, which are known for surfing and annually host the TUDOR Nazaré Big Wave Challenge [es] and the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal, respectively.
